A Japanese lithograph, of a young man with an elaborate tattoo to his back of an actor in traditional costume from the series "Mishima Go Book of Young Men", signed Mishima G? (1921-81), circa 1972, 41cm x 27cm. Tsuyoshi Mishima, who worked under the name Mishima Go, was one of the first contemorary gay artists of Japan. He contributed illustrations to "Barazoku"(The Rose Tribe), the first commercial gay magazine in Japan, published by Daini Shobo in Tokyo in 1971. Dissatisfied with the bish?nen art style of Barazoku, Mishima founded the magazine Sabu in 1974, which focused on imaged of masculine men, and was more explicitly pornographic. Mishimaalso created a seris of lithograph portraits of young men, most of them with tattoos, titled "Mishima Go Book of Young Men" in 1972. Published by Danini Shobo, the series was a portfolio of 24 portraits. Considered gay erotica, his images feature rugged young men with short cropped hair and, most of them with impressive full body tattoos. Works by Mishima Go are rare.